Death Penalty Plea Rejected

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court rejected an appeal Wednesday from a death row inmate who says he will choose the electric chair over lethal injection to make it harder on his executioners and to illustrate the brutality of capital punishment.

In a 4-3 vote, the court refused without comment to grant a hearing for John W. Byrd Jr., and would not delay the execution, set for Sept. 12.

Byrd’s execution would be Ohio’s first electrocution in 38 years. Two executions since 1963 have been by injection.

Ohio lets condemned inmates choose between the electric chair and injection.

Byrd, 37, was convicted of killing a Cincinnati convenience store clerk in a 1983 robbery. He admitted taking part in the holdup but said an accomplice killed the clerk.